The present invention relates to a belt buckle that is designed to display a variety of items. More particularly, the invention relates to a belt buckle manufactured from a framework with an open viewing section, and an easily removable portion containing the item to be displayed.
An ideal item particularly intended for display in the belt buckle is what is referred to as conservation wildlife stamps. These are "Collector Series" stamps picturing various species of wildlife in their natural habitat and are miniature representations of larger prints taken from original art works by notable artists. Other "Collector Series" stamps may include a boating and sailing series which could be similarly displayed. Other items for display may be: relatively flat pieces of wood, metal, ceramic, ivory, leather, plastic, cloth, and paper including laser etched "scrimshaw" (carved articles); pressed metal figures; relatively flat gems; representations of sports and entertainment figures; stampings of horns; claws; insects; fishing lures; animals; boats; cars, etc. In like fashion, the belt buckle would be capable of displaying an artist's print, a miniature painting, a logo, a photograph, or a political ad. The invention is easily adaptable to ladies designer styles by use of solid or multiple color plates displayed in the window of the front plate.
The belt buckles known in the art are manufactured by a number of processes including stamping, casting or molding, gluing, brazing, crimping, carving, engraving, or silver smithing (art of making articles of silver). Those buckles in the art which have some type of artistic design or impression, are generally of a one-piece construction and do not allow the wearer to display the suggested collector stamps, prints, etc., nor do they permit the interchangeability that is afforded with the proposed invention.